It Was Cold
by Sakae Kashiwagi
Summary: Please let this be a nightmare.
1. Part I

It was cold.

Katara walked the great halls of ice alone. The ceiling seemed to disappear into the far reaching darkness.

She clutched at her mother's necklace desperately trying to feel some sort of comfort. The cold seemed to be taking it from her.

Soon she came to narrow windows that seemed to reach as high as the ceiling. There were four of them, each right next to the other.

She ran to them, hoping for a way out of the ice.

She expected to see snowdrifts or glacial cliffs, or even the cold ocean, but none of these things were revealed by the windows.

The first window she looked out of was too narrow for her to fit though but it showed an expanse of green grass that had an incredibly welcoming feel. A blue sky stretched forever above the hills.

Then there was Appa. He was flying high in the sky.

For some reason that Katara could not remember, she was crying. Tears streamed down her face. "Appa!" She called the sky bison's name. But he did not move toward her.

Then, she saw a figure sitting on the head of the bison. "Aang! Aang! I'm here! Help me!"

The figure on Appa turned toward her. She reached her hand out of the window, "Aang!"

Appa was quickly landed and Aang hopped off.

Katara could see Sokka and Toph sitting in the saddle on Appa's back. "Sokka! Toph! I'm here!"

She was smiling uncontrollably with tears still shining on her cheeks. She was so relieved to see them.

Aang slowly walked toward her. His face was blank.

"Hey," Sokka yelled from on top of Appa, "why did we stop?"

Katara's smile fell slightly.

"C'mon, we have to keep moving Aang!" Toph yelled.

Katara wondered why Toph used Aang's real name.

Then it hit her. The urgency of Toph and Sokka's voice. Their voices were thin, like they had been yelling for over an hour and never wanted to yell again. Like they wanted to just lie down and never have to get up again.

Then Aang spoke, his voice even more tired than either of theirs. He faced Katara, his back to the others, "I thought I heard her… I …" And then his throat seemed to choke him violently. He quickly turned, fists clenched. He hadn't been speaking to her. Or anyone. Just himself.

"No Aang! Where are you going?!" Katara was screaming. She tried to waterbend the ice so she could get out but it did not move. She pounded on the ice desperately, "No wait! Please wait! Don't leave me! Aang! Aang!"

But then he was already on top of Appa and flying off.

She stood at the window in stunned silence. "They didn't even see me," she whispered in disbelief.

Then, everything in the window began to turn black. She quickly stepped away from it.

The blue sky and the green grass was gone.

She went to the next window.

There was a large moon that hung above the tops of the trees. Aang, Sokka, and Appa were sitting around a small fire. They looked very tired.

"I'll keep the first watch," Sokka said.

Aang nodded.

Katara watched.

They looked thin, like they had been without sleep for a long time, like they had been without food for even longer.

"Aang!" Katara called to him.

Aang jumped up and stared at her. Stared past her.

Sokka jumped up, weapon raised, "Is it Fire Nation?"

Aang said nothing but slowly walked toward Katara. His eyes held some kind of mixed emotion. His lips were slightly parted as he almost breathed her name.

"Aang! I'm right here! Can you see me? Aang?"

She tried to reach out to him. Her arm ached against the cold ice as she strained to stretch further.

Sokka looked very nervous. "Aang? What is it?"

"I… thought I heard something." Aang murmured.

"Me!" Katara shouted. "You heard me!" She could almost reach the front of his shirt. If only he'd take a step closer. "Aang! I'm right here! Help me! Aang! Help me!" Her voice cracked.

Aang's eyes seemed to loose their focus as he stared straight into her face. But not straight into her face. His brow wrinkled with concentration.

"Aang listen to me! Look at me! I'm right here! Just come a little closer!" Katara's finger's tried to stretch toward him.

Sokka kicked a rock and it went flying. "I'm so tired of this!"

Aang's concentration was lost and he turned toward the distressed water tribe warrior.

"First Katara, then Toph!" Sokka punched a tree. Silence echoed throughout the forest for a moment.

"Don't forget about Momo…" Aang said looking at the ground but not really remembering Momo.

"They're picking us off one by one! We can't keep running! There's no place _left_ to run." Sokka slumped down to sit on a log, his face in his hands.

Katara was frozen. "Toph? And… Me? We're…" She couldn't finish. She just couldn't.

Aang went to sit by the fire. He hugged his knees.

And then everything started to fade into black. Just like the other window.

Katara slowly shook her head in horror, backing away.

She looked at her hands. They seemed the same as always, just really, really cold now.

And she didn't want to, but she couldn't help herself as she went to the next window.

There were voices coming from the window. And as she looked out, she saw whom they belonged to.

There was a parched looking village center and a hot sun that beat down without mercy.

Many women, children, and old men who were dressed in greens stood together. They must be of the Earth Kingdom.

"There is no Earth Kingdom!" shouted a man standing in front of the crowd. He was wearing red.

The crowd murmured.

"You will all now be processed," said the man.

At this, many red wearing soldiers came forward and surrounded the crowd.

There was a gust of wind. Dust was kicked up into the air. And there were screams. Katara couldn't see what was going on.

Eventually, the dust settled and Katara gasped. There amongst the green clad people was Appa and Aang.

All the Fire Nation soldiers were dead.

"What have you done?!" Shouted one of the old men.

Aang looked over at him, "Saved you."

"No!" shrieked a woman. "You have doomed us all!"

"Now they will come back with more soldiers and they will not hesitate to kill us all!" shouted another woman. "Being processed was our only hope left to live!"

They weren't really living. They hadn't been for a long time. Katara could tell. Sokka should be yelling this in defense of Aang right now. But he was not. Where was Sokka?

The crowd dissipated hopelessly, some cursing the Avatar.

"Don't listen to them Aang!" Katara shouted.

His gaze snapped up. Again he got that look in his eyes.

Aang walked toward her as if he didn't even know he was walking. He had a deep bloody scratch going along the side of his face. His clothes were tattered.

"Aang," she whispered as he was close to her, but not close enough for her to reach. "What has happened? And where is Sokka? Is he… like me too?"

The cut on his face was bleeding.

She wanted so badly to reach out to him and heal him with waterbending.

"Aang, I," she started to cry, "I'm so sorry."

A rock hit the side of Aang's head.

Aang turned to see a pouting child readying another rock to launch at the hated Avatar.

Aang held a hand to his bleeding head.

"Hey!" Katara yelled angrily, "Stop that! Stop hurting Aang! He saved you today! You still have a chance to live a free life!" Or at least, so she hoped.

"Go away!" yelled the child throwing another rock. "Everywhere you go, people die!"

It was obvious that the child was repeating what he had heard adults say. And it was obvious that the child's words hurt Aang more than the rocks.

Aang quickly leaped toward Appa, a feat that could only be achieved through airbending.

"No! Aang wait! Wait Aang! Please!" Katara beat her clenched fists against the sides of the cold windows. But everything was turning black again as Aang flew away on Appa.

Katara cried hard. She sunk to her knees. She was all alone in this cold place. Everyone was dying. And Aang was suffering so much.

She gripped the edge of the cold window that had gone black. Her knees aching from the hard surface she forced them on. She shut her eyes tight and pressed her forehead against the ice.

She didn't want to look out the last window.

But then she heard a shout. It was Aang's shout. And she ran to the last window from which it had come.

"Aang!" Her voice was terrified.

Before her was a battle ground. Dead bodies lay everywhere. Everything was red, from the smoke filled sky to the rusted earth.

Aang was running. He was alone. Not even Appa was anywhere to be seen anymore.

Aang was running toward her. He tripped over a broken spear jutting out of the ground. He fell and did not move.

"Aang! Are you okay?!" Of course he's not okay. But she didn't know what else to say. "Get up Aang! Get up!"

She now saw why he had been running. Fire Nation soldiers were chasing him. His face was scratched all over and covered in dirt, but dark circles were still visible beneath his eyes.

She gathered all of her strength and screamed. "AANG!" She tried to make it as loud and long as possible.

Aang looked up at her.

She almost smiled.

Suddenly, a Fire Nation soldier bore down on him. Aang tried to roll away but was caught in the arm by a sharp blade.

It was then that Aang's eyes began to glow white. His arrow tattoos lit up and he rose into the air.

Katara clutched at her mother's necklace around her throat.

Aang opened his mouth to speak, but not just his own voice was shouting. The hundreds of Avatars before him layered on their own pain to his. "_**YOU KILLED THEM. YOU KILLED THEM ALL. I LOVED THEM.**_"

The Fire Nation soldier backed away in fear. But soon, other soldiers came up behind him.

They aimed their fists at the rising Aang.

Tears spilled from Katara's eyes.

In a bright flash, fire exploded from the soldier's fists.

The fire lashed out toward Aang, but with one sweep of his hand, it dissipated. He then pointed _his_ fists towards them.

And an unparallel amount of flame enveloped them all.

Their screams were silenced almost immediately. Burnt corpses fell to the ground.

Then Azula, who had gone unnoticed, aimed her two deadly fingers at Aang. Blue lightening flashed and roared.

Smoke rose from Aang's back. _Again._

And he fell. _Again._

And Katara reached out for him. _Again._

But she had no sacred water from the Oasis to heal him.

And she had no water to bend into a wave to catch him.

He just fell. Right before her. With a sickening thud and cracking noise.

With trembling fingers, she touched his face. His eyes opened slowly.

"Katara," he breathed.

And then the darkness came _again._


	2. Part II

Katara's throat would allow no air into her lungs. Not that she wanted air anymore.

Everything she loved was dead. Everything was gone.

She was alone in the ice.

All the windows had faded into black.

She put her back to the wall, slid down to the floor and hugged her knees. She buried her face into the crook of her elbow.

"No," she mumbled into the fabric of her clothes, "no, no, no, no, no." Each 'no' was louder than the next.

All of her pain could not contain its self within her suddenly small body. So she screamed.

It was like unleashing an ocean. A very high pitched ocean.

It was long and agonizing. She had never screamed like this ever before.

When it finally came to a gurgling and strangled stop, she quickly stood up. And she ran.

She couldn't keep still. She wanted to throw herself against the ice walls or out of the windows into the blackness. She wanted to… die.

But she was already dead.

Her feet were slipping on the cold floor as she pushed her muscles to go faster. Her eyes were shut tight, teeth clenched, fists forced into tight balls.

She could feel her heart beating faster and faster. She heaved in air, which burned her over used throat.

She collided with something. And it wasn't hard ice. It was soft and warm.

She opened her eyes. "Mom?" she whispered hoarsely.

Her mother grabbed her wrist, "Katara, you have to get out of here." Her mother's eyes were full of fear. "They are coming, go back to the village. I'll hold them off!"

Katara's eyes widened. She had heard this before, when she was younger. Right before her mother died. "No, Mom, come with me."

"I'll be okay," her mother said frantically. Her mother pushed her away. "Go! Go now."

Katara took a step back from her mother. Her mother's eyes said she knew she was going to die. "Take care of your brother and father for me, okay?" She said with a broken smile and tears. And then she turned and ran in the direction that Katara had come from.

Her Mom was gone again.

Katara whipped around and kept running. Tears somehow managed to still spill from her eyes.

_How is all this happening?! Is this what it's like to be dead?_

And then there was a rumbling. The ice cracked beneath her, sending her skidding across the ground. Long splits in the ice walls traveled from the floor to the ceiling, or at least so she assumed, because she couldn't even see the ceiling.

It's all falling apart… 

A large icicle crashed to the ground beside her. She tried to scoot away from it. Another one exploded behind her as it landed.

Then the floor collapsed. She was falling. Darkness surrounded her.

She was in the darkness. And it was cold.

That's all she could feel, the cold.

There were whispers all around her.

"Who's there?" she tried to call out, but her voice cracked.

The whispers grew louder. And then there was one discernable voice. "You let me die."

It was her mother.

"And me." It was Toph.

"And me." It was Sokka.

"You let us all die," Aang's sad voice could be heard above the others. "Why Katara? Why didn't you protect us? Don't you love us?"

"Yeah, you let us all die. How could you?" It was the Earth King.

"We aren't important to you?" It was… Haru?

"It's like you killed us." It was… Yue.

"You failed." It was Jet.

There was the chirping sound of a lemur. Even Momo blamed her.

A low rumble announced that Appa was there to.

All the voices mumbled the same things over and over again.

"Katara," Aang seemed to whisper close to her ear, "Katara."

Katara was crying silently.

"Katara."

"I'm sorry," she whimpered.

"Katara." They all seemed to be murmuring her name.

"I'm sorry Aang." She spoke softly.

"Katara, wake up!"

Katara's eyes shot open. The roof of the tent was above her. And so was Aang. And Sokka. And Toph. And Momo.

Appa gave a low rumble from outside the tent.

"You were dreaming," Sokka said.

She slowly sat up.

"And crying," Aang said staring at her face with concern.

She put her fingers to her face and felt the wetness.

"And talking too." Toph said folding her arms.

Katara's face turned red. Then she suddenly brought them all into a hug.

They were all shocked.

They hugged her back. Except Momo, who managed to escape.

Then, she let them go.

They looked at her apprehensively.

"Feel better Sugar Queen?" Toph asked.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Good! Then I'm going back to sleep." She left the tent.

Sokka went back to his sleeping bag and was asleep almost immediately.

Aang gave her a quick grin and went out of the tent also.

She laid back down and sighed. She couldn't go back to sleep though.

She got up and went outside into the warm night.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Aang who was lying on Appa's tail.

She shrugged her shoulders and sat next to Aang. "It was just a bad dream."

"What was it about?"

Katara was silent for a moment. "Everyone died."

There was silence again, then Aang spoke, "Well don't worry about it. We're all safe."

"Yeah." She said sadly, thinking of her mother.

Aang sat up and looked at her. "You don't sound better."

"Well," she played in Appa's fur, "I still feel sad. The dream seemed so real."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't real Katara. Try to forget about it."

She nodded. She would try. "Thanks Aang." She gave a half smile.

He hugged her, "I don't want you to be sad. Okay?"

She smiled a little. "We should try and get some sleep."

"Yeah," he nodded pulling away from her. "Tomorrow we'll be going over the grasslands which stretches on for almost ever."

She got up. "Good night then Aang."

"G'night Katara." He yawned.

She slowly walked back to the tent.

A twig snapped behind her.

She turned.

A sharp pain went through her as a Fire Nation blade pierced her. She couldn't even scream.

Aang jumped up, "Katara!"

Her vision blurred. But she could see a light growing brighter. It was Aang. He was going into the Avatar state.

Sokka and Toph were yelling. Appa gave out a bison bellow.

Wind ripped around them.

The Fire Nation soldier was dead.

Everything seemed to calm down.

Katara's eyes were wide. She was trying to see. But blackness was taking over.

Someone had taken her in his arms and was calling her name.

Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth and made it's way down her chin.

Someone was crying.

It was getting cold.

"Katara, Katara, Katara, Katara…" The voice faded… It sounded like Aang…

And everything went black.

She opened her eyes slowly, almost unwillingly.

She was crying but couldn't remember why.

She began walking the long hall of ice. The walls seemed to go up forever. The ceiling was not visible through the darkness.

There were four long narrow windows. She went to them. Maybe she could get out.

She clutched at her mother's necklace.

It was cold.


End file.
